Kiev risks scrape without Moscow’s credit

President Dmitry Medvedev has announced Russia has put off intergovernmental consultations with Ukraine until the question of the signed bilateral EU and Ukraine gas declaration is clarified, according to RIA Novosty.

As the Russian president explained, “We’ve got intergovernmental consultations with Ukraine on heads of governments level next week. Now, to clear out the consequences of the bilateral EU-Ukraine gas declaration we’d better put it off for some time.”

On March 19 it became public that Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko was preparing a visit to Moscow to personally ask the Russian authorities for a $5 billion loan to pay for the Russian gas that Ukraine buys from Gazprom.

Russian PM Vladimir Putin backed up president’s decision.

He said that the Russian side has closely examined this document and now has certain questions for Kiev.

According to the head of the Russian Cabinet, “There is a whole range of issues. The key factor of the development of Ukraine’s gas transmission network is the cumulative flow of gas. This index is decisive for payments for investment credits. The fact of the matter is there is no other gas to fill this network but gas from Russia.”

That is the reason to thoroughly think the current situation over, the Russian PM stated.

The previous day Putin threatened to review Moscow's relations with Brussels if Russia’s interests are ignored.

Also, the Russian Foreign Ministry has commented that any actions to modernize Ukraine’s gas transit system not coordinated with Russia may lead to failures in gas deliveries to Europe and Ukraine itself.